In the name of the deathless Vishanti! By the twelve moons of Munnopor, the fury of the dread Dormammu,
and the roving rings of Raggador! Here comes Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts!

Whew! Now that was a mouthful! Say it fast ten times in a row- it ain't easy! Now imagine yourself
as our mystic friend Dr. Stephen Strange, and you're cornered by a whole passle of spirit wraiths
sent from the bowels of Dormammu's dread dimension, and they are there to send you to some sort
of stygian damnation or another...I bet you'll find a way to say those words real quick! And why? Because
those words- carefully crafted by Stan Lee and put into pencilled panoramas of psychedelic insanity by
Steve Ditko- are the words that take care of business in the realm of mysticism and magic that Dr. Strange
and his ilk live in. A world of mystery and oddity...of strangeness! Where the rules as we know it simply
do not apply! It's the world of "Black Magic", where if you're in trouble and you've called on 911 instead of
the Omnipotent Oshtur, you've just made the wrong call, buster!

Premiering in the back
pages
of Strange Tales #110, the
initial tale starring Dr. Strange clocked in at only five pages, and was a modest story settled in
behind "The Human Torch vs. the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete" and a Larry Lieber monster/sci-fi five-pager
called "We Search the Stars." The Human Torch (itself an oddity in the Marvel Universe!)
was the lead feature at this time- July 1963- and would remain so for another two years. Dr. Strange
rolled out slowly, with three five-pagers featuring very economical tales, settling in behind the Torch
feature and a sci-fi backup strip. In fact, after the two premiere stories in Strange Tales #110 and 111, there
was a two-month hiatus for ol' Doc, I guess to presume the fan reaction to the new hero. (In those
two months without Doc Strange, Steve Ditko turned in a couple sci-fi backups- hey Marvel! We want to see those
too someday!!!)

Well, the reaction must have been good, because by December of 1963, Dr. Strange was given eight pages
and the sci-fi/monster backups were phased out of Strange Tales for good. Eventually the page counts
were upped to nine pages, and then ten, where he would stay until he inherited the title all on his own.
This volume doesn't include any covers, simply because Dr. Strange was rarely on any covers while
serving as backup to Human Torch & the Thing and, later, Nick Fury. Only by Strange Tales #117 was
Dr. Strange even mentioned on the front cover, and then was given either a "blurb in a box" or a small
drawing advertising his backup story. His primary cover appearance was Strange Tales #130, the only
cover where he took up more than half the space (the infamous Torch and Thing "Beatles wigs" cover.)

Despite it being treated as if
a red-headed step-child, the
creative energy poured into Dr. Strange takes a back seat to no one. It could be argued that this is
Steve Ditko's finest work of his career, with his rendering of the universe of magic and mysticism
that Strange inhabits being so fantastic and outlandish that it set the tone for years to come. After all,
a comic about a magician could have been as formulaic as popping rabbits out of hats and waving
magic wands at fleeing bank robbers. But no, Steve and Stan stretched the boundaries of reality to include
whole new dimensions and civilizations. Quite often, Dr. Strange is opening portals from the rigid
confines of Earth to faraway, or even very close, strange places, where the rules of reality
as we know it do not apply. Certainly, the rules of comics art status quo did not apply, as Steve Ditko
abandoned expected forms of layout, sending his characters off into the far distance of psychedelic landscaps
that went as far as the eye could see.

The Rogue's Gallery was
relatively static, with Baron Mordo,
Nightmare, and the dread Dormammu being the consistent nemesis to the good doctor. Baron Mordo, in
particular, annoyed and vexed Dr. Strange, as he was also a disciple of the Ancient One, the wizened old
mystic who cares only to pass his knowledge of the "black arts" down to those who would use it for good-
and "good" is exactly what Baron Mordo is not!

Dormammu certainly established himself as Doctor Strange's most brutal opponent (proven especially
by the dread one's visceral emasculation of Baron Mordo in Strange Tales #141, an event that certainly
cut the Baron down to size.) King of the dark dimension where he rules good people with evil intent, Dormammu
is at least principled enough to make bargains and deals when he loses. Getting him to keep to the spirit
of these bargains is a whole other story, though! The cagey despot craves nothing more than to destroy
the man who has found more than one way to beat the supposedly unbeatable Dormammu!

Also premiering in this Masterworks edition is the lovely Clea, destined to become Dr. Strange's
chief ally and love interest. Harried and held hostage by the cruel Dormammu, Dr. Strange rescues her
and her race from the villainous king, and she is forever in his debt, forever admiring of him. An
oddity is that her name- Clea- is never uttered throughout the stories reprinted in this volume. That
would be saved for a later tale.

Dr. Strange is unlike any other Marvel comic of the day, and deserves a place on any complete
Masterworks library shelf. The action is brisk, fun, and edgy, and Steve Ditko is achieving heights
of artistic greatness that would serve to inspire many artists who would later take on the Master
of the Mystic Arts!

-- by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted Doctor Strange from Strange Tales #110-111, 114-141

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.

ST #110

ST #111

ST #114

ST #115

ST #116

ST #117

ST #118

ST #119

ST #120

ST #121

ST #122

ST #123

ST #124

ST #125

ST #126

ST #127

ST #128

ST #129

ST #130

ST #131

ST #132

ST #133

ST #134

ST #135

ST #136

ST #137

ST #138

ST #139

ST #140

ST #141

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